Jeff Bezos is the fourth richest person in the world and worth more than $124 billion. Now, Bezos is pledging to give away the majority of his money to charity.
In an interview with CNN, Bezos said he will devote the bulk of those funds to fighting climate change and to the support of people who can unify others amid social and political divisions.
“It’s not easy.. it’s really hard. And there are a lot of ways that you can do ineffective things too. So, we’re building the capacity to be able to give away this money,” Bezos said.
In 2020, Bezos pledged $10 billion to the climate, and before that, he gave $2 billion towards a new fund to start preschools and help homeless families. Despite the donations, the Amazon billionaire has been criticized in the past for not signing the giving pledge, a commitment founded in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. It’s a commitment for the extremely rich to pledge the majority of their wealth to charity. Today it has 236 members and is growing.
On the heels of his announcement, Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez are giving singer Dolly Parton $100 million, as part of their Courage and Civility Award. Parton will be able to donate the money to a charity of her choice.
